Introduction: How to Make an Antler Lamp DIY

What you’ll need: Electric drill, drill bits, two or three antler sheds (depending on how large and what shape you would like the base of your lamp to be), a lamp kit you can find at just about any hardware store, superglue or hot glue (whichever your preference), nails, pencil, level, hammer

First, you have to go shed hunting and find a few sheds, this is the best part of the process!

Once you’ve found a few sheds in the woods, arrange your antlers however you like, this will be the design of the base of your lamp

Once arranged, take the antler that will be holding light bulb and put it right side up in a vice. You’ll be drilling a hole through the top of the antler, preferably perfectly vertical, using level. You’ll want the hole to be just large enough to hold the first piece (base screw) of the lamp kit, while also using a smaller drill bit to continue the hole, making it just long enough to come out the side/bottom antler, this will be used for the wiring from the power cord to the light bulb

Now head back to the rest of your sheds, rearrange and line them up to recreate the base of your lamp, this time gluing the middle point of the antlers that touch. After gluing, tape them together to add extra reinforcement to ensure the antlers don’t move while we drill another hole

Drill another hole where you placed the glue, this will be a very small hole, smaller than the width of your nails. This will helps to make hammering the nails a bit easier while also ensuring we don’t split the antlers

Before hammering the nail into the hole, fill the hole with your glue for added strength

Now it’s time to hammer (lightly) the nail through the glue filled hole

Repeat this process for every point in which the antlers are connect and/or touching

If you haven’t already, place the final antler that will be holding the lamp into the base and glue and nail this to the base using the same method as before, make sure the part of the antler that will be holding the light bulb is level and vertical so your lamp ends up nice and upright.

Once the glue has dried, go ahead and remove all of the tape and let’s begin installing the lamp kit.

First feed the wires through the larger hole we drilled earlier, then place the base screw of the lamp kit into the antler, feeding the wire through it as you install

Now it’s time to start putting the lamp together, first by placing the U bracket base onto the bottom screw, followed by the light bulb base holder

Pull a bit of the wire up through the base, making whatever knot you prefer to keep the cord tidy and strong once the lamp is installed (our preferred knot is featured in our video above)

Now bring in the actual light bulb holder. There will be two screws on the base of this, one on each side, place each end of the wire on each of the screws, one positive and one negative charge

Tighten the screws and place the bulb holder into the base you have built

Now place the cap on top of the bulb holder, this will make it look nice as well as make the lamp vertical (not diagonal anymore)

Now take the last two pieces of the lamp kit, a lamp shade and lamp shade holder, and place the lamp shade holder into the U bracket, tightening as needed.

Lastly, place the lamp shade and a light bulb onto the lamp you have just built, and presto, you have an antler lamp shade!